


Driving With A Mosquito In Your Car

by 0_Skeptical_Pie_0



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Criminal Lance (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Protective Lance (Voltron), Road Trips, Vampire Keith (Voltron), holy fuck this is dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-09-20 22:17:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17031000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0_Skeptical_Pie_0/pseuds/0_Skeptical_Pie_0
Summary: As Lance is making his get away after a robbery, he stumbles across a starving and injured vampire. When he decided to help, he didn't know what kind of ride he was in for.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance had always stolen things. His mother's rings, bags of candy from the variety store, even kids lunch money they brought to class and put in their desk. He stole small things, things you wouldn’t notice were gone until Lance had left the location of the crime.

But this, this wasn’t a small theft anymore.

Lance ran as fast as he could down alleys and backstreets, desperately avoiding the loud voices of angry cops and worried civilians. The 150,000 dollars he had just stolen was stuffed in his backpack, along with a gun, water, some canned food, and other essentials he would need on the road. Despite the circumstances, Lance felt great. Under the painted mask he had on his face, Lance was grinning like a madman. The chase thrilled him, dodging police cars as they attempted to pull out in front him.

So far, Lance’s plan was working. He had successfully robbed from a Walmart, thrift shop, and a dollar store in one night, all located in his very own town. Lance had made sure to go off the grid 2 weeks beforehand and dropped all connections with family 3 months ago. This all left only one major part of Lance’s plan to be completed; the getaway.

Lance had scouted out the forest he was currently running to beforehand, memorizing all his ways out and hiding places. The forest was huge and densely packed with trees, and so Lance doubted the police would find him before he exited the forest and hit the road.

Lance jumped over his first log of the night, weaving his way around bushes and pushing his way through forked trees. He continued to run, though he still heard the cops on his trail, which worried him.

“Guess those fuckers can run faster than I thought,” Lance muttered. “Well, time for a change of plans.”

Lance suddenly veered to the left, taking an even harder trail to follow. He jumped over a low bush and forcefully pushed himself through a huge bramble patch, effectively scratching his legs. The shouting of cops was getting quieter, but Lance kept pushing on. Up ahead the ground fell away into a dried creek bed. Lance jumped down, his footprints mixing together with animal tracks. Lance scanned the creekbed, looking for somewhere to hide.

Lance was about to give up and start running again when his gaze caught something. An almost invisible overhang in the side of the creekbed sat close to the ground. It was small, but Lance could fit. Lance shoved himself under the rock, launching himself into almost complete darkness.

He was expecting to hit hard ground, or maybe even a rock wall. Not a person. This was his line of thought as he barreled into somebody smaller than him, effectively crushing the person under him. Dark violet eyes stared back at him fearfully.

The figure, which Lance assumed was male from the lack of breasts, flinched back from Lance, and opened his mouth. But the shouts of police were getting louder outside, and any noise could give away Lance’s spot. Lance brought a hand over the boy’s mouth, effectively shutting him up. They struggled at first but stopped when Lance made a quiet ‘shh’ noise, the boy opting to rather listen to the voices outside. 

The police were shouting at each other, obviously pissed about losing their criminal. After about 15 minutes of chatting, they finally left. Lance let go of the violet-eyed boy, who immediately began struggling under Lance.

From what Lance could see in the dark, the boy had raven black hair and pale skin. He was wearing a dirty red hoodie and ripped jeans, though whether those jeans were ripped as a style choice or not was unclear. He was dreadfully thin and looked like he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days. But the worst thing Lance could spot was a nasty cut that ran from the boy’s hip to mid-thigh. The skin around it was dark purple with bruises, and the clothing surrounding it was stained with blood.

Lance put up his hands in passive gesture, trying not to scare the boy further. The movement just made the boy flinch, which made Lance angry. Not at the boy, but at whoever made him flinch at such a simple gesture.

Lance decided he should probably calm the boy down before he had a full-blown panic attack. Talking it is, then.

“Hey, uh, may I ask what you're doing in here?” Lance tried, sitting up properly, but not moving to let the boy up.

“Fuck off.” The boy snarled weakly. His voice was hoarse as if he hadn’t used it in a long time. He shook slightly, though Lance couldn’t tell if it was because he was cold or scared.

“Can I get a name at least?” His response was another snarl.

“Mine’s Lance.” A glare.

Lance was getting impatient. “Do you ever fucking talk?” A bare of fangs-

Wait. Fangs?

Lance’s whole body tensed, as he realized just what was in front of him. Vampires were rare, but not unheard of. In the majority of the world, they were treated like exotic animals, some places going as far as selling some as pets. Laws in the U.S.A had been set up that made the hunting and killing of vampires legal if the vampire was being a pest to your community, or acting violently towards you.

Vampires were not allowed to purchase houses, buy cars, or get married. Half of the vampire population had been killed by hunters, and almost all of the rest were kept as pets or used in lab experiments. Scientists believe that only 700-800 of the vampire population are free roaming, leaving the chances of running into any slim to none.

And yet, here was one, not chained up or being tested on, sitting in front of Lance. Lance realized with a jolt of fear that the boy in front of him was in fact very dangerous, and could snap at any moment. The gun that was in Lance’s backpack seemed to weigh heavily on his back. Should he…?

Lance stared at the raven-haired boy closely. They seemed no older than 25, starving and injured. The fear in his violet eyes burned brightly, even though he could probably kill Lance if he had been stronger. This wasn’t someone about to rip Lance’s throat out. At the moment, it looked as if he couldn’t even run from Lance.

‘No.’ Lance thought, ‘I can’t just kill him. Doesn't matter what the laws say, that is a person sitting in front of me. A living, breathing person.’

Lance tried a new approach. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to know why you’re in here.” He spoke the words in a soft voice, reaching a hand to his face to remove his mask. He put the mask on the ground and forced his muscles to relax.

The violet-eyed boy still didn’t move as he said, “And why the fuck would I tell you? You already saw my fangs, so you might as well get on with killing me.”

The answer was so blunt that Lance couldn’t answer for a few seconds. He opened his mouth and closed it for a moment, before continuing. “Why the hell would I do that? You haven’t done anything wrong.”

The boy bared his teeth. “You should kill me because I’m a monster! I could drain you of life in under a half hour. You should be fucking terrified of me!” The boy glared directly into Lance’s eyes, face inches from Lance’s.

“Well, personally, you don’t seem like the ‘drain of life’ type of guy. Plus,-” Lance gently flicked the cut on the boy’s leg, earning a pained hiss. “-you’re not exactly in shape for murder.” The boy glared at Lance from under him, trying to somehow get Lance off of him with his eyes alone.

Lance leaned down, hands on his neck and elbows on either side of the boys head, to stare directly into the vampire’s face. “Now, would you like to tell me why you’re here, or do we have to sit here all night?” The boy squirmed uncomfortably under Lance and mumbled something so quietly Lance couldn’t hear it.

“What was that?” Lance said, tilting his head in a silent victory.

“I said, I’m on the run from hunters.”

Lance pulled back a bit so that he could see the vampire’s entire face. Up close, he could see the dark bags under his eyes. There was a dark bruise on the side of his cheek, and hand marks on his neck. Whatever happened to this vampire, it probably hurt like hell.

The boy used Lance’s distraction to flip them over, causing Lance to let out a startled yelp. This time he was straddling Lance, and if Lance was honest he found it... attractive. Only a little though. Yeah, a little.

But the moment didn’t last long, as the boy pushed himself off of Lance, turning to leave. Lance scrambled to his feet, grabbing his mask and stuffing it in his bag. Before the vampire could leave, Lance grabbed his wrist.

“What’s your name?” Lance asked. He couldn't just run into a fucking vampire without learning its name. His name. The vampire turned back to look at Lance. His eyes were untrusting and fearful. It made Lance’s heart wrench. What happened to this boy?

After a few moments of silence, the vampire opened his mouth to answer Lance.

Lance never got to hear the answer, as there was a number of barks. This was briefly followed by a dog fucking shooting out of nowhere and leaping at the vampire. The vampire attempted to dodge but was too late. The dogs gaping maw made contact with the raven-haired boy’s shoulder. The scream that followed was horrifying, and Lance could understand why. The dog was huge, and dark brown in colour. It had beady yellow eyes and the biggest teeth Lance had ever seen.

The dog yanked the vampire to the ground and pinned him, shaking its head from side to side. Lance got the gun from his bad and shot at the beast, shot until it stopped moving.

After the initial ‘what the fuck’, Lance shoved the dog off the boy and kneeled beside him. The vampire was bleeding heavily, and the bite mark was deep. Lance pressed a hand to the wound to stop the bleeding, which proved unsuccessful.

“What the hell was that?” Lance muttered to the boy, still attempting to stop the bleeding.

“H-hunting… dog. They… scent v-vamps…” The male choked out. “What are y-you doing? Get… get out of h-here.”

“The fuck you talking about? I’m getting you out of here. Don’t care if you’re a fucking vampire, you need help.” Lance dug through his backpack, pulling out a shirt. He ripped a strip of cloth from it and tied it around the boy’s shoulder. It was already becoming red with blood, but it was all he could do for now.

Ignoring the vampire’s pained whimpers, Lance scooped the boy up in his arms.

This stubborn little shit wasn’t going about die.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Keith felt when he woke up was the pain.

His whole body ached. The cut on his thigh stung, and all the smaller cuts and bruises he had gotten over the past few days hurt. But there was a new throbbing pain on his shoulder, that he couldn’t remember having when he fell asleep.

In fact, he couldn’t remember when he fell asleep. Keith’s eyes flew open, a million scenarios running through his head. Was he finally caught by Lotor? Did the clan find him? Keith’s eyes focused on a dashboard in front of him. He was in a car, driving. He tilted his head weakly to see who was in the driver’s seat.

A young man was sitting at the wheel, looking slightly panicked. There was blood smeared on the side of his neck, but there was no wound. The man had blue eyes, tan skin, and light brown hair. He looked oddly familiar.

Keith thought back to last night. What… oh.

He remembered the blue-eyed human smashing into him, and the voices of angry police. He remembered the dog launching out of nowhere. The human - what was his name? Leo? Lance? - pressing a hand to his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Being picked up and passing out again.

Keith took a second to look at himself. He was covered in blood, ripped clothes, and bruises. He looked up from himself to watch the road, looking for street signs or anything that could tell him where they were going. But he found that his vision was becoming dark a blurry.

Keith fought the heavyweight of unconsciousness, willing himself to stay awake. He needed to find out where they were headed. He…

He needed…

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Lance had quickly run to the stolen car he had stashed near the forest for his getaway. Sure, there may have been a small bump in his plan, taken he was carrying an injured vampire in his arms, but he still needed to get out of town.

Lance opened the passenger side door first, gently placing the still unnamed vampire in the seat. He considered buckling him up, but the belt would strap directly over the bite wound, and would probably irritate it.

Lance closed the door and got in his own seat.

“Ok Lance, here’s the problem. You have an injured, starving, probably-dangerous, vampire in your car. Plus he’s bleeding out. Now, where the fuck do you take him to be fixed up?” Lance put a hand on his face, panicking.  
He couldn’t go to the hospital. The boy would be taken away and he would be sent to jail. He also couldn’t help the boy himself. Lance was horrible at first aid.

An idea popped into Lance’s head, and he sped away down the road. He had some friends he was still in contact with, and they ran a hotel nearby. These friends all partook in crimes like him, so Lance should be fine on the whole robbery thing. Lance smiled at the thought of seeing them again.

First, there was Allura. She ran the hotel. When Lance first met her in high school, he thought his heart was going to explode out of his chest. She looked like a supermodel. But just as he was getting to the peak of his crush, he learned she was lesbian. He was practically crushed, but he got over it.

Allura wasn’t completely invested in crime like most of them, but she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Two guys were harassing girls in senior year, slapping their asses and cat calling them after school. One of them made the mistake of catcalling Allura as he drove past in his car. The next week he came back to school crying about how his car had been smashed to pieces, and the police couldn’t find any suspects.

When Lance had looked at Allura questioningly, she had just smirked at him.

Coran was Allura’s uncle, though he acted like a friend. He didn’t agree with seeking out trouble with the law but wasn’t fully against it. Lance swore he could probably murder someone.

Then there was Pidge. She was great with tech and all that funky stuff. Lance had known her since primary school, and she was the first person he expressed his love of stealing too. She was like a little sister to the group, and to Lance. Pidge and Lance went shoplifting together all the time. Pidge always found a way to disable the beepers at the store entrances, and they grabbed their goods and left.

Hunk was the group mom. He always told everyone to not get into crime related things, take care of themselves, etc. He was the only person in the group that wasn’t wanted by the police. He was a great cook, and could always make everyone happy.

Lance remembered Pidge saying they had hired someone else to work at the hotel too, a blonde girl that seemed to just not care that Pidge would walk in talking about her latest hauls.

Lance sped up, cutting off a car. He needed to get to the hotel quick. He wasn’t sure how bad the bite was on the vampire’s shoulder was.

Lance got to the hotel in 12 minutes, parking behind the building and picking the vampire up again. He grabbed the spare keys from behind a bush and unlocked the back door. He rushed in, almost forgetting to close the door.

“ALLURA! PIDGE! HELP!” Lance yelled, running into the lobby. He didn’t care about other people hearing him; they personally knew most of the people who stopped in, and they had a reputation among outlaws for being ok with criminals on the run staying the night.  
Allura looked up from the front desk, eyes widening as she saw Lance. She got up and ran to Lance, calling for Pidge.

“Lance, what happened? And who is that?” Allura put a hand on Lance’s shoulder, staring at the vampire between them.

“No time to talk, we need Coran. He was bitten by a hunting dog, and he has more cuts, and he said hunters were out to get him-”

“Hunters? Dogs? Lance, what the hell are you talking about?” Pidge walked in, somebody Lance recognized as Matt beside her.

“I’ll explain later, just get a free room so we can help him. Please.” Lance pleaded with them.

Allura still looked at the boy oddly, but nodded and ran off to do what Lance assumed was find Coran, her footsteps echoing through the halls. Pidge and Matt helped him carry the vampire to a clean room, and he gently placed him down. The bite was still oozing blood, and the boy looked so small and frail at that moment that Lance just wanted to hug him.

Allura and Coran came in a second later, an anxious Hunk looking over their shoulders. Coran shouldered past Matt to stand at the side of the bed with Lance.

“What exactly happened?” Coran questioned, peeling off the vampire’s hoodie with careful hands.

“He was attacked by a… hunting dog? That’s what he said before he passed out. It was huge for a dog, and I had to shoot it to get it off of him.” Lance explained quickly, moving to help Coran, but his hands were batted away.

“And what are these bruises from?” Coran brushed a hand against the boy’s face and neck, giving Lance an accusing look. Everybody stared at Lance expectantly.

“Woah, hey! I did not do those. He had those when I found him. In the forest. Alone. And hiding.” Lance trailed off.

Hunk piped up. “Didn’t you say he was ‘on the run from hunters’? What does that mean?”

Lance was quiet for a second, before quietly saying. “Vampire. He’s a vampire.”

Everyone stared at Lance in shocked silence, and even Coran’s hands faltered as he looked up at Lance. “Did you just say ‘vampire’?” Coran broke the silence, turning back to stare at the boy. 

“Yes! Now help him!” Lance said desperately.

Coran didn’t do anything for a moment, but then grabbed a cloth and began to clean out the vampire’s wounds. Lance sighed in relief. When he looked up, Allura and Hunk were still looking at him shocked, but Matt and Pidge seemed… happy? Lance gave them an odd look, and they shared a glance before Pidge grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his room, despite his protests.

When they were out in the hall, Pidge yanked Lance into a hug. “I love you so fucking much right now, y’know that? So much!”

Lance grabbed Pidge’s shoulders and pushed her back a bit. “What do you mean? And what’s with sudden affection? Especially coming from you?”

Pidge glared at Lance at his last comment and opened her mouth to most likely make a sharp retort. However, Matt shoved himself between Lance and Pidge before she could.

“Me and Pidge have been researching vampires for YEARS, Lance! And then you just walk in here with a live one! Do you know how exciting that is?” Matt was basically bouncing up and down.

“No, not really, because I'm not an absolute nerd.” He got a punch in the shoulder for that.

Pidge just rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s get back in there.”

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Coran got the still unnamed vampire patched up, and everyone relaxed a little. Hunk went back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up, and Coran went back to his office. He told Lance to give him a holler if something was up with the vamp, then left.

Allura turned to Lance after he left. “So, how did all of this happen.” She gestured towards the boy, then Lance. Matt and Pidge perked up, eager to hear what Lance had to say.

“Oof, so it started with me robbing 150,000 dollars. The police were after me, which I predicted, so I ran into the woods. I jumped into this dried up creek and found an overhang, and slipped under it to hide. Low and behold, someone was already under it.” Lance motioned towards the raven-haired boy. 

“We both waited till the police were gone, and then I started asking him why he was under there. He said hunters were chasing him, which might explain some of the bruises. Then he got up to leave. But then the fucking dog bursts out of nowhere bites him and pushes him to the ground. I shoot the thing, and he starts to bleed. And then I picked him up and drove him over here.” He ended lamely.

Pidge spoke up first. “Did he act strangely? Anything happens that wouldn’t happen with a normal person? Any powers?”

Lance groaned. “I don’t know Pidge. He bared his fangs at me once, but that was all. Why are you- are you seriously writing this down?” Pidge just shrugged, continuing to scribble down what Lance had said, and making Lance roll his eyes.  
Allura sighed. “Well, there isn’t much we can do now. Come on, let’s go. We’ll check up on him in a bit.”

“Ok, you guys do that. I’ll stay here and see if there is anything strange going on.” Pidge took a step toward the vampire but was yanked back by Allura. “That means you too. C’mon.” The three of them left the room, leaving Lance alone.

Lance lingered for a few moments, staring at the stranger on the bed, before leaving as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Pidge are nerds


	3. Chapter 3

The next time Keith woke up, he was dazed and confused.

He wasn’t in the car anymore He knew that. He was laying in large bed, topless and bandaged. The blankets felt unrealistically soft, but that might just be because he had been sleeping on the cold ground for weeks. There was a large window to Keith’s left, and a door to his right. The room was pretty plain, excluding the painting of a night sky hanging above the bed. It’s walls were a blue-grey, and the carpet was a dry grey.

Keith sat up, ignoring the throbbing of his whole body. He stood up and stumbled over to the window. He could see some houses, a couple stores, but most importantly, a bus stop. Now, if only Keith could find some new clothes and some money…

Keith rummaged through the room, checking every drawer and under the bed. He came up with .85 cents and a new family of dust bunnies. Keith sighed in defeat, collapsing back onto the bed. He had no money, nothing he could use to blend in, and no idea where the hell he even was. Keith sat back up, rubbing his head. He was fucked.

Keith went over to the window once again. He could see the forest he had come from just barely over the horizon. If he could make it there, maybe he could back track. It wouldn’t immediately help his situation, but at least he would be in familiar territory.

Just as Keith was fiddling with the lock on the window, looking to open it, he heard the unmistakable noise of a door opening. He whipped around, caught in his act of mistake.

Standing in the doorway was the blue eyed human(Lance? It was Lance, right?) who had taken him here, dressed in a dark blue hoodie and loose shorts. He looked a little nervous, but curious nonetheless. He eyed Keith from where he stood with his hand still on the windows’ lock.

“I hope the person I just saved isn’t trying to run away after waking up?”

Keith snarled at him. “I didn’t ask to be here! You didn’t need to save me!”

Lance stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked irritated now. “And what was I supposed to do? Let you be mauled to death by a fucking hunting dog? I may have just met you by I’m not that cruel.”

Keith rolled his eyes harshly. “I was fine. I didn’t need help.” At Keith’s words, Lance closed the distance between them with three strides. Keith tried to back up, but his back just hit the wall. Lance shoved a hand up to Keith’s bandaged shoulder and squeezed tightly.

Keith let out a pained shriek as white flashed across his vision and his legs buckled. An arm wrapped around his waist before he could collapsed on the ground, pulling him up to face Lance.

“That didn’t sound like you were fine.” Keith flinched away from Lance, attempting to stand back up, but wasn’t given a chance as Lance dragged him over to the bed, making him sit down before he left to rummage around in the bathroom.

“I came to redress and rebandage your injuries. You’ve been out for a whole day.”

“And where exactly am I?” Keith hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. He was starting to get cold, and the fact that his whole upper half wasn’t covered didn’t help.

“Altea Hotel. It was the best place I could take you without landing one of us - or both - in jail.” He walked out with a handful of medical supplies, and began to arrange them beside Keith.

Keith knit his brows together in confusion. “Both? Why would they arrest you?”

Lance shrugged. “I would probably be questioned, and eventually they would find out the reason I was in the forest anyways.”

“And that is…?” Keith prompted.

“I stole 150k dollars, and I think it may be illegal to not immediately call the cops when you see a vampire? Not exactly sure.” Keith felt himself deflate a little. Lance was just helping him because he would get in trouble if he didn’t. Not that he didn’t suspect that, but it still hurt.

Warm hands were suddenly on Keith’s shoulder and he jumped a bit. Lance gave him an apologetic look before unwrapping the bloody bandage on his shoulder. Keith hissed softly as air hit the wound, shifting uncomfortably.

Lance silently poured some type of teal paste on his hand before rubbing it into the bite. It stung like a bitch. Keith flinched, shoving Lance’s hands away from him. Lance just gripped his side and pulled him back over, ignoring Keith’s protests as he continued to rub the paste into the bite.

After that torture, Lance rebandaged his shoulder. By then Keith was a shivering mess. Vampires had a hard time maintaining body heat, and Keith couldn’t handle the crappy heating of the hotel. At least out in the forest it was always the same cold, numbing temperature.

When Lance finished bandaging his shoulder, he pulled back to give an odd look. Probably cause of the constant shaking. Lance wordlessly yanked off his dark blue hoodie and handed it to Keith. He was wearing a light grey shirt underneath, which looked about one size too small.

Keith made a confused noise, but accepted the hoodie anyways, slipping it over it his head with ease. He was immediately engulfed by heat with the hoodie dwarfing his small frame. The hoodie smelled like cheap cologne and tree sap, an interesting combination.

Lance tilted his head a bit. “So, am I finally going to get a name out of you, or should I just call you ‘forest dude’ and 'vampire' in my head for the rest of eternity?” Lance cracked a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.

Keith didn’t answer for a few seconds, still anxious. Could he trust this guy? It didn’t really seem like he got to make a choice.

“Keith. My… my name is Keith.” He finally answered, rubbing at his arms anxiously.

 “Well, Keith, I hope you’re not planning on running away.” Lance spoke softly as he began to pack up the medical supplies. “Cause I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

“You. You literally just met me. How can you just say that?” Keith mumbled.

Lance gave him an odd look. "Why would I want to see you hurt? You're just a person."

Keith opened his mouth, then closed it. He shrugged helplessly. Humans are weird.

Lance looked mildly amused, and cracked another smile. "Well, you should get some rest. I'll get Hunk to bring you some food later."

And with that, Lance left. Keith was still confused about the whole situation, but he decided to take Lance's advice and rest. Keith curled up in a ball, enjoying the warm hoodie Lance had given him. 

Beat sleeping on the ground and being chained up by hunters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o o f


	4. Chapter 4

Lance made his way into the staff room where Pidge, Hunk, and Coran were talking. They all looked up when he entered, and Hunk waved. "Hey, man. Has our mystery vampire woken up?"

Lance nodded. "Our vampire is called Keith, and was wide awake when I got in there. Awake enough to be attempting to escape out the window, too."

"He was trying to escape? Why would he do that?" Hunk asked, voice laced with confusion.

"I don't know, man. He looked pretty scared when I walked in there. Maybe he was confused when he woke up?"

"The boy probably thought we were going to hurt him." Coran muttered from behind them, taking a sip of coffee.

Hunk was just as, if not more, confused. "Hurt him? Why the hell would we do that?"

"Did you see him when he first came in here?" Everyone turned to look at Pidge. "Giant bruise on his face, cut on his thigh, hand prints on his neck? Those sure as hell weren't from the hunting dog that bit him. A human did that. Probably those hunters he said were after him. The world is an cruel place, dude. If I were him, I would probably be getting as far away from us as I could, too."

"God... " Hunk muttered. "I just really want to hug him. Like, tight, hour long hug. Squeeze the hurt out of him and replace it with love."

"Aw, Hunk. You're too pure for us." Lance smiled. "And I agree, who could do that to somebody? Why try to kill someone who isn't even hurting anyone?"

"The Galra, that's who." Everyone turned to look at Allura as she walked in, carrying a newspaper. She handed it to Lance, looking at the front page in disgust.

"The Galra is a gang of vampire hunters. They find and catch vampires, and if there isn't anything particularly interesting about them, kill them. If there is something interesting about them, they either sell them to science or keep them as trophies." Allura scowled. "Just so happens that they've been hunting for vamps a few towns over. Says here they've already captured 3 and killed 2. Also says to keep an eye out, as there's been more spottings of at least 4 other vampires. Its the largest amount of vampires found in one place in about a decade. Everyone's going a little crazy."

Everyone stayed quiet, thinking about what Allura was saying. An organization who's only purpose was to kill and catch vampires? As if they were some sort of exotic animal? It made Lance sick thinking about it. All he could imagine was the fragile thing a few rooms over, being hunted and caught like prey. Those bruises and injuries were caused by a cruel, cruel person. 

"Wait."

Everyone turned to Pidge, who was staring at the floor like it held all the answers to life. "If... if that hunting dog found Keith... that means The Galra are close by, right? And, if all those vampires were found a few towns over, how far did Keith have to run?"

"God..." Lance muttered. "This keeps getting worse and worse."

Everyone agreed.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Lance and Hunk entered Keith's room 2 hours later with a bowl of soup and a water bottle. Matt and Pidge peered through the crack in the door, not allowed to enter. Everyone agreed that there probably shouldn't be more than two people in the room at the same, as to not overwhelm Keith.

Hunk had added more meat to the soup then he normally would hoping that would help with the whole 'blood = food' thing. Pidge had said that normally vampires could in fact eat normal food, just that they couldn't live off of it and blood was better for them.

Lance's eyes were immediately drawn to Keith. The vampire was curled into a tight ball on the bed, Lance's hoodie making him look tiny. He was breathing gently, face and muscles relaxed.

It was kind of adorable, actually.

This fact was also noticed by Hunk. "Aww! He looks so cute like this." Hunk cooed, setting the bowl of soup down on the bedside drawer.

Lance gently sat down on the side of bed, the mattress dipping down at his added weight. He carefully pushed a strand of Keith's hair behind his ear, tilting his head at him. Keith leaned into the touch, making a strange noise in the back of his throat.

Lance could practically hear Pidge and Matt writing that down.

Lance removed his hand from Keith's head and gently shook him by his shoulders. "Hey... hey Keith. Wake up."

It only took one more shake before Keith's eyes shot open. He scrambled back, a strange hiss rising in his throat as his whole body coiled up, making him seem smaller. His eye were wild, shrunken to slits with a strange yellow glow. Lance heard Hunk gasp and guessed he took a step back.

"Woah! Hey, hey. Calm down. We're not here to hurt you, remember?" Lance held his hands out in front of him, trying to show he wasn't going to hurt Keith. Keith stopped hissing but didn't uncoil, glaring from his side of the bed.

Lance grabbed Hunk's arm and pulled him forward a bit. "This is Hunk. He's my friend. He would probably combust into flames before he would consciously hurt you. He cried once when he accidentally stepped on my ankle."

Hunk was now also glaring at Lance. "That was a secret!"

Lance ignored Hunk. "We brought some food and water. You must be hungry, right?"

Keith fidgeted with his hands, refusing to move. "No... no I'm not hungry. Now leave."

"Keith, we're trying to help you. You're hurt, and you've probably been through a lot. Can you please just have a bit to eat? Or at least drink?" Hunk tried.

"I don't need your help. If you really wanted to help me, you would let me go." Keith snarled weakly, voice hoarse.

Lance was quiet for a second before turning to Hunk. "Can you leave? And close the door behind you."

Hunk nervously nodded and left quickly.

Lance turned back to Keith. "Can you please eat? You're so thin... when was the last time you ate?"

Keith was quiet. Lance sighed and tossed the water bottle over to Keith. Keith flinched away from it, and gave Lance a confused look.

"I'm not leaving until I see you drink something. You aren't going to heal if you die of dehydration first."

Keith gave Lance an odd look, but slowly picked the water bottle up. He uncapped it and took a couple mouthfuls before setting it back down. 

"There," he hissed. "Happy?"

Lance just smiled at him. "Very." Lance left as he had promised, but didn't take the soup with him. 

When he peeked in later that night, the bowl was empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i cant write for the life of me. this chapter is boring as fuuuuuuuuck

**Author's Note:**

> hey! i hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm planning more, and I'm /hoping/ to post a new chapter every week/every two weeks, so come back?  
> i would also like to thank @inkspottedandbrokenhearted on tumblr! they helped me continue and fix this up, and without them I probably wouldn't have posted it. So if you have the time, check them out! http://inkspottedandbrokenhearted.tumblr.com


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